Ben Barba was limping, and Tony Williams was limp. The brightest and biggest chances the Bulldogs had of causing Manly some grief simply could not put it together, and the Sea Eagles coasted to victory.

The respective performances of the pair were both peculiar, in differing ways. Barba appeared troubled by an injury he suffered late in the first half, at other times ran freely, but then limped around again. Having played without Barba for the first three rounds, will the Bulldogs have to prepare for more time without their star?

Josh Jackson gets held up. Photo: Anthony Johnson

And Williams? Some might say the Dogs have been without this particular star for a while, certainly the player they expect. He simply does not look anything like the player who tore opponents to shreds.

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Coach Des Hasler needs to summon his best motivational skills to fire Williams up. A man of his size and talent should not be left to also-ran status.

There is nothing also-ran about the Sea Eagles, who have maintained touch with the competition leaders. The Bulldogs' performance was such that the Sea Eagles never quite had to exert themselves fully, but they did what they had to do, which is the mark of this Manly side; key performers across the field who rarely let anyone down.

NRL Round 5 - Bulldogs vs Sea Eagles

The Manly Sea Eagles have denied the Canterbury Bankstown Bulldogs a chance at breaking their losing streak, and instead secured the Doggies a hat-trick of losses by defeating them 20-6 at ANZ Stadium on Friday night. Manly took an 18-0 lead into the break, but by full-time the Bulldogs managed to squeeze in a consolation converted try. Photos by Anthony Johnson. Selected images available from www.fairfaxsyndication.com Follow us at http://twitter.com/photosSMH Photo: Anthony Johnson

The match proved that one of the most oft-used, and boring, cliches is still nevertheless accurate. Backline stars regularly profess that they cannot do what they do without the men in the middle.

So it was that the Bulldogs, despite having Barba, Josh Morris and Josh Reynolds in their line-up, simply could not find any sure footing to enable those players to take advantage.

Not only have the Bulldogs been without James Graham and Sam Kasiano so far this season, a significant reason for their inconsistency, they also lost Greg Eastwood and David Klemmer on game day.

Jamie Lyon gets tackled. Photo: Anthony Johnson

And they struggled. They brought much of it on themselves, dropping the ball regularly in the first half. It was that weight of possession which allowed the Sea Eagles to camp themselves in the Bulldogs' half, and dominate proceedings.

The Sea Eagles put their foot down early and hard; Brett Stewart's cut-out pass gave winger Jorge Taufua his sixth try of the season then, after 26 minutes, the fullback again found the right option by sending the ball the way of centre Jamie Lyon, who had emerged alongside him.

Lyon finished well, fooling Barba to score.

Barba was kept quiet for most of the match, and looked hampered by a slight injury he suffered in the 34th minute, after almost setting up a try for his own captain Michael Ennis. Barba limped back into position but was clearly not happy. His team joined him in feeling the frustrations when Kieran Foran's grubber sat up for Taufua, who did superbly to ground the ball.

And so another side went scoreless in a half of football, adding to a trend this year. This time it was the Bulldogs, grand-finalists of last year, who hardly looked like scoring.

Despite being revved up this week ahead of a clash with his former club, Williams hardly looked like making an impact. Once again, when he did run he was flat-footed, but otherwise he was more decoy than destroyer.

The one moment when he looked like he might get a head of steam up, having received the ball in space, he chipped ahead, before being promptly flattened by the closing defence.

The Bulldogs had their brightest period midway through the second half, but it was too brief to muster any real challenge. When Lyon kicked a 67th minute penalty, the match was theirs, even though Ennis scored a late consolation try avoid the ignominy of going scoreless for the 80 minutes. Regardless, the Bulldogs have some soul-searching to do.